Solanum seaforthianum |
Solanum citrullifolium |
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Brazilian nightshade |
melon-leaf nightshade, watermelon nightshade |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, spreading, sparsely to moderately armed, 0.3–0.8 m, prickles yellowish, straight, needlelike, 3–7 mm, sparsely to densely pubescent, hairs short, unbranched, glandular, occasionally with a few longer, unbranched, eglandular hairs, abaxial leaf surfaces usually also with sessile to short-stalked, few-rayed, stellate hairs, central ray equal to or longer than lateral rays. | |||||
Leaves | petiolate; petioles twining around supports, 1–4 cm; blade simple to compound, elliptic to broadly ovate, (2–)3.5–10(–13) × (1–)2–9(–11) cm, margins entire to divided with up to 4 pairs of leaflets, leaflet margins entire, base truncate or slightly cordate. |
petiolate; petiole 2–7 cm; blade simple to compound, broadly ovate, 4–10(–15) × 3–8 cm, margins bipinnately lobed or divided with 3–4 main leaflets per side, these with obtuse or rounded lobes, base truncate. |
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Inflorescences | terminal, becoming lateral, extra-axillary, much-branched, to 100+-flowered, to 25+ cm. |
extra-axillary, unbranched, 4–10-flowered, 3–11 cm. |
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Pedicels | inserted into small sleeve on inflorescence axis, 0.8–1.4 cm in flower and fruit. |
1–2 cm in flower, 1–2 cm and erect in fruit. |
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Flowers | radially symmetric; calyx not accrescent, unarmed, ca. 0.5 mm, nearly truncate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent on lobe tips; corolla purple, stellate, 1–2.5 cm diam., with sparse interpetalar tissue; stamens unequal due to unequal filaments; anthers ellipsoidal, 2–3 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores; ovary glabrous. |
bilaterally symmetric; calyx accrescent and tightly covering fruit, densely prickly, 2.5–3.8 mm, densely glandular-pubescent, lobes linear-lanceolate; corolla violet or blue, pentagonal-stellate, 2.5–3.5 cm diam., with interpetalar tissue at margins and bases of lobes; stamens unequal, lowermost much longer and curved; anthers narrow and tapered, dehiscent by terminal pores, short anthers yellow, 6–10 mm, longer anther purplish, 11–16 mm; ovary glabrous. |
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Berries | bright shiny red, globose, 0.8–1.5 cm diam., glabrous, without sclerotic granules. |
brown, globose, 0.8–1.2 cm diam., glabrous, dry, without sclerotic granules. |
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Seeds | pale yellowish tan, flattened, 4–4.5 × 2.5-3 mm, minutely pitted. |
dark brown, flattened, 2.3–3 × 2–2.5 mm, reticulately wrinkled, ridged, or undulate. |
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Climbing | or scrambling vines, woody, unarmed, to ca. 3 m, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, hairs white, unbranched, ca. 0.2 mm. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
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Solanum seaforthianum |
Solanum citrullifolium |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. | |||||
Habitat | Disturbed sites. | |||||
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
FL; Mexico; West Indies; Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama); South America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela) [Introduced in North America; introduced also elsewhere in South America (Argentina, Paraguay, Peru), Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia]
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sc United States; se United States; Mexico |
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Discussion | Solanum seaforthianum is widely cultivated as an ornamental and sporadically escapes in Florida. A similar species with twining petioles, S. laxum Sprengel, is occasionally cultivated in California. It is distinguished from S. seaforthianum by having tufts of hairs in the vein axils of the abaxial leaf surfaces, white rather than violet corollas, and equal stamens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
North American plants identified as Solanum heterodoxum Dunal are largely misidentifications of S. citrullifolium. Solanum heterodoxum in the current sense is now restricted to Mexico. Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. | ||||
Parent taxa | Solanaceae > Solanum | Solanaceae > Solanum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Andrews: Bot. Repos. 8: plate 504. (1808) | A. Braun: Index Seminum (Friburg) 1849: [3]. (1849) | ||||
Web links |